A couple of days after the start of home confinement due to the pandemic, in mid-March 2020, chef David Reartes realised how far-reaching this measure would soon be for household economies. He picked up the phone and called José Andrés, the Spanish chef who in 2010 created World Central Kitchen to alleviate the famine generated in Haiti by the earthquake that devastated the island, as well as Carles Tejedor, who brought this charitable initiative to Barcelona. From these conversations came Cuina Central Eivissa, “a copy of the World Central Kitchen”, admits Reartes. The Ibizan solidarity initiative, which was unveiled yesterday at a press conference, has already begun to distribute 175 daily menus “to families who need to cover basic food needs. And it does so “in a healthy way while also promoting the use of local products”.
The mayor of Eivissa, Rafa Ruiz, acknowledged yesterday that “it has taken a little while [18 months] for all the gears to be set in motion, but …”. But it is already underway. 69 families from Eivissa will benefit. The distribution of this food aid will last for just over two months (63 days), during which time the Consistory estimates that it will deliver 11,070 personal menus.
Two months first, then …
Each menu weighs about half a kilo, explains Reartes, so that, in total, prepared meals weighing a total of 5,535kg will be delivered during that period.
And after those two months? “Then the situation will be studied,” commented the mayor, who assured that something like this is unprecedented on the island (however, the Julián Vilás Foundation has done something similar for years by delivering daily cooked food to Caritas for the island’s homeless). Although it was first specified from Vila that this campaign would last three months and the mayor even raised that figure to four in his appearance, finally the Consistory clarified in the afternoon that the first phase will last for two months (63 days) and that it is open to the possibility that there will be a second stage.
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